WorkSpace

Another app that will be discussed during the training sessions is also easy to use. WorkSpace allows the learner to create pages with drawings, text and images. Project files can be saved and shared which opens up great opportunities for interactive activities. Simple gestures will change the colour of the drawing tool, its thickness or erase the drawing altogether. Learners can use either use their finger or the stylus that comes with the tablet. In her training video, Hannah gives some classroom examples. She says that the LearnPad can be used to teach phonics to the children. You can build phoneme frames with accompanying images as seen in sparklebox to encourage the learners to sound out and spell words. This can be done in both Maltese and English. Ordering and sequencing numbers in mathematics is as easy as pie when using the selector tool. More sophisticated activities can be created by collecting your own images and creating a sorting activity. The learner can begin by sorting the images provided by you and then move on to create their own sorting game using the camera on the tablet to record examples from their environment.

The WorkSpace is an unsophisticated tool that can stretch your students without overburdening them with a lot of technical stuff.

So,e while asking JFK’s pardon, ask not what the app can do for you, but what you can do with the app. Start from the learning objective that you want to reach then decide which tool is best to use to achieve that outcome. Does a particular app help you reach your target more efficiently? Does it help make your teaching clearer? Does it offer you more possibilities than if you did not have technology? And remember that the tablet may not be the best solution. “The last thing we want to see is the tablet used for everything.” (D.M.)

Furthermore, each project created in the WorkSpace environment can be saved or handed in to the ClassCloud which allows the editable project file to be added as a resource to a lesson profile for the learners to access and interact with, but above all it can be shared. Passing on content, material and resources to your learners is the traditional way of doing things and should be continued because it has a place in our teaching and learning. However, we need to encourage sharing among learners and sharing among educators as sharing means that you are not alone and it makes life real.

Published by Emmanuel Zammit

Emmanuel Zammit is an educator. Started his work experience as a teacher in 1976 and taught in State Primary schools, in the special education sector and in State Secondary school where he taught Technical Design and ICT. He served as a Secondary schools ICT support teacher, Assistant head master in a primary school, Education Officer for eLearning, Assistant Director and since 2013 serves as Director for Digital Literacies. In 1981 Emmanuel Zammit earned a BEd and completed with distinction further studies in ICT and Education Diploma from the University of Malta. A higher diploma was earned in Online education from the University of London in 2000. In 2008 Emmanuel Zammit earned a Masters Degree (Distinction) in ICT and Education from the University of Leeds. Emmanuel Zammit is a member of the EU Creative classrooms Lab and Chairperson of the Pedagogical advisory group to MEDE’s ICT steering Committee. In 1982 coauthored and illustrated a textbook for primary school children Lejn il-Missier and 1991 published the textbook for secondary school 11 to 12 year olds on Technical Design. Published various short articles in local religious magazines (Vexillina & Regina et Mater). In 2005 Emmanuel coauthored an automated testing system (SSr) for ICT students and won the NICTAA 2006 for SSr (National ICT Achievements Awards). Emmanuel Zammit won the Best Illustrator 2006 for a series of books covering Maltese culture and in 2007 placed first out of 564 European teachers and won the EU e-Learning Award for the Best ICT Practice. In 2014 and 2015 published two papers one on Digital Literacy and the other on Positive Behaviour in an Online Environment. Before retiring in 2019, Emmanuel and his team managed to implement the National roll out of Tablets to all schools in Malta and restructured the Digital Literacy Directorate. Emmanuel Zammit is married, a grandfather and lives in Mosta Malta. View more posts